Naughty Nikki
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INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
In addition to her obvious addiction to reading, Maura will be gracing the world with her own brand of romance. In celebration of the release of TEXAS TEA, she will be answering questions from us and you.
So get those questions posted!
www.realmoftheraven.com
Last edited by Naughty Nikki, 8/14/2007, 1:11 pm
--- Naughty Nikki Duncan
The sensuous side of suspense and magic.
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7/5/2007, 1:50 pm
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Naughty Nikki
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Re: INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
And here she is, Wiccan High Priestess Maura Anderson!
The Realm I saw on your website that you are a Wiccan High Priestess. Would you mind explaining what that means? How’d you get the title? Does your being a Priestess play into your writing?
Maura Wicca is a nature-based religion and a form of modern paganism. Almost all wiccan “traditions” practice initiation and teaching/apprenticeship and have multiple levels (degrees) of learning. I’m a 3rd degree (the highest in my tradition, Mohsian) elder High Priestess. It basically means I’m acknowledged by my teachers and initiators as having fully learned the tenets of my tradition and am able to from a coven of my own, if I so choose, and initiate and teach others fully through the 3rd degree. I have taken oaths of responsibility and accountability.
To get the title, I have been through years of training and practice of my religion under the tutelage of my elders. My lineage is known and I am in good standing.
Hmmm – it does play into my writing in some ways. I think I am very good at writing ceremonies and rituals. I have a vast set of resources and knowledge to draw on for my paranormal writing. I do write paranormal and contemporary erotic romance, after all.
The Realm You made the shift from technical, non-fiction writing to fiction. Many people can never make that move successfully. How did you manage? What made you want to try?
Maura The two different types of writing use very different parts of my brain. I am not actually trained as a technical writer, I’m actually a software development engineer in test. My technical book is a textbook to teach other testers how to go about testing software for security defects. I had been teaching my co-workers for quite a while and one day I decided I could write a book on this instead because there was obviously a need. After a bunch of research, I wrote a proposal (almost all non-fiction is sold on proposal), a competitive analysis and a query. After finding an agent, it took a while for the book to sell but it did.
This experience – especially after multiple people told me that I couldn’t sell a book on testing and I did – gave me the confidence to start trying to find out about my first love, fiction.
After the near-blinding realization that stories don’t come easily, even to the best-selling authors, I put my nose to the grindstone and started to give voice to all the “what if” stories that started appearing in my head.
The Realm Was there one piece of advice you learned since you began writing that still holds true?
No matter how much you want to, do not give up. Though I usually quote Galaxy Quest: “Never give up, never surrender!”
Maura Having a five year-old is a major time commitment. How do you fit time to write into your schedule? Do you have a “typical” process or routine?
Oooh – I better update my bio before he can read it, he’s six now! That’s a horrible mommy violation.
My process has turned into coming home from my day job, spending time eating with the family and hanging out, then writing late at night. Usually from 10pm to whenever I start to fall asleep – usually one or two am. Thankfully, I’m very much a night person anyway.
The Realm How long have you been writing? How many books have you completed to date?
Maura I’ve only been writing fiction for about fourteen months. I have two completed stories (both novellas) and one almost complete novel. Oh, and a short story on the Pink Chair Diaries site.
The Realm Is there any of the usual writing advice you've found to be true and helpful? Is there anything that you haven't seen out there that you'd like to add for aspiring writers?
Maura Hmmm – my biggest piece of advice to aspiring writers is to not become so caught up in learning every method taught for every task (plotting, character creation, etc.) that you spend more time moving from technique to technique than you do actually writing your stories. Your stories are your product, your process is not. Learning is good, but pace it out and keep your eyes on the prize – a terrific story.
The Realm Your first fiction book Del Fantasma - Texas Tea is coming out soon. Can you tell us about that? What was your favorite part of that project?
Maura This was a really fun story to write. I had heard about the continuity series, Del Fantasma, that revolves around a bar in Point Loma and the matchmaking vampire barkeep, Cody. The stories have to have a drink that plays into the story associated with them. I’m not much of a drinker so I began trolling through books and databases of ****tails to see if I saw something that inspired me.
Anyone who knows me can vouch for the fact that I am always the person who wants to twist things, to skew things so the reader doesn’t get what they expect. So I saw a drink called “Texas Tea” and thought about a shifter from Texas. Somehow my muse morphed that into a part-Native American coyote shifter, Matt. The tea became my heroine, Lara, a tea drinking ghost seer on a mission to repay the ghost that saved her life.
I grew up and lived in Southern California for many years and I’d been to Point Loma many times and loved the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, so it became a feature in the book as well. I shunned the Hotel Del Coronado in favor of the more unexpected.
My favorite part was probably the things that appeared without planning. There is a ghost in the story that wasn’t planned and yet had something to say about the conclusion.
The Realm Your character Lara sees and hears ghosts. Have you? If so, what did you do about it?
Maura I have met ghosts. In fact, I’ve seen and heard one of the ghosts in Texas Tea myself. As far as what to do, I try to treat them with respect and am polite. Most ghosts are not there to do any harm. They are more often lost or just unwilling to leave a place that played a very important role in their lives. I’m not afraid of ghosts and actually love graveyards.
The weirdest time I had with ghosts, one that made me cry, was when my husband and I visited Culloden Moor on our honeymoon in Scotland. I’m Scottish and my ties to the land there are already deep but when I visited the battlefield, the impressions, the echoes of the dead were almost overwhelming. I actually used this experience in a story that I’m completing and revising for submission called “Raven’s White Hart” where the heroine is an empathy – here’s a tiny bit of what it was like:
Anguish.
Pain.
Sorrow.
Sadness.
Hopelessness.
The enormous power of lingering emotions hit her with the force of a gale. Over a thousand people fought and died here and even their graves were later disregarded and mistreated. No peace existed for them. Every one of their voices cried out to her and clamored to be heard. Each voice demanded solace, begged for ease.
The distinctive smell of gunpowder grew with each step. The coppery tang of blood became an underlying odor, never fully masked. The voices grew louder and louder, now mixed with the sobs and wails of women.
The Realm On your path to publication, how many times do you think someone passed on your work? How did you keep pushing on to get that publication?
Maura Probably over twenty times already, especially if you include agents. I expect that number to only grow.
You just have to keep trying. Your only other option is to give up and I am not someone who gives up easily. I’m stubborn.
The Realm What do you see for yourself next, either personally or career oriented?
Maura Personally, I’d like to pay off my mortgage so I can quit the day job, be home for my son as he comes home from school and just write.
I’m working on a series of coyote shifters now. They have taken on a life of their own, since I didn’t actually set out to write them, but my test readers are already asking for more. And they are fun and not too overdone.
I’d like to start a newsletter and have a free story in it in chapters. As a reader, I really like those.
I have a lot of ideas of what to do next but it really boils down to “get back to work” and produce the next story to try to sell.
Del Fantasma - Texas Tea releases August 2007. Visit Maura at www.realmsoftheraven.com
Last edited by Naughty Nikki, 8/14/2007, 1:11 pm
--- Naughty Nikki Duncan
The sensuous side of suspense and magic.
www.nikkiduncan.com |
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8/14/2007, 1:10 pm
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gincat61
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Re: INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
I truly enjoyed this interview, and I'm glad to see there are witches who are coming out of the shadows! The Scottish battle memory was too sad, sad, sad! I enjoyed Maura's blog, but I wish there had been tips for solitary witches!
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8/16/2007, 11:17 am
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MauraAnderson
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Re: INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
I actually pratice mostly solitary anymore - partly from lack of time and partly from choice. Are there questions you may have in particular?
Actually, you've given me a great idea for a section of my Newsletter. Check in tomorrow at my website's newsletter page (http://www.realmsoftheraven.com/newsletter/) and let me know what you think of the "Ask the Witch" section. Feel free to send me questions or ideas.
Blessed Be!
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8/17/2007, 1:17 am
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gincat61
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Re: INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
what a lovely necklace for the blog contest, but I missed the contest, darn it! I loved the idea of Ask a Witch section, and subscribed to the newsletter. Cody was very interesting character in the excerpt!!! I was asking what is this guy if he's between a human and a ghost? I don't have any specific questions about Wicca. I'm glad that people are refusing to be intimidated and are willing to discuss their beliefs. (P.S. I was curious about the Realm of Love chat and stumbled across the last portion of a chat. The moderator (I Think) mentioned that a Maura Anderson was scheduled to appear next week, and I wondered whether or not that was you. If it was, talk about a small world, as the song goes).
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8/20/2007, 8:36 pm
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MauraAnderson
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Re: INTERVIEW WITH MAURA ANDERSON, WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS AND ROMANCE AUTHOR
Actually the necklace is the prize for the Newsletter contest so, if you subscribed, you're in the drawing since it will run until 9/14!
Keep watching the blog because I'll have more drawings. My jewelry hobby gives me lots of fun fodder for contests and I love it when something I made gives people pleasure 
And I am, indeed, the same Maura Anderson appearing at the Realms of Love chat next Monday. Hope to see you there!!
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8/20/2007, 11:21 pm
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